The region is also known in English as "Trans-Dniestr"[24] or "Transdniestria".[25] Etymologically, these names are adaptations of the Romanian colloquial name of the region, "Transnistria" meaning "beyond the River Dniester".

The documents of the government of Moldova refer to the region as Stînga Nistrului (in full, Unitățile Administrativ-Teritoriale din Stînga Nistrului) meaning "Left Bank of the Dniester" (in full, "Administrative-territorial unit(s) of the Left Bank of the Dniester").

Transnistria became an autonomous political entity in 1924 with the proclamation of the Moldavian ASSR, which included today's Transnistria (4,000 km2) and an adjacent area (9,000 km2) around the city of Balta in modern-day Ukraine, but nothing from Bessarabia, which at the time formed part of Romania. One of the reasons for the creation of the Moldavian ASSR was the desire of the Soviet Union at the time to eventually incorporate Bessarabia.[citation needed] The Moldavian SSR, organised by a decision of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on 2 August 1940, was formed out of a part of Bessarabia (taken from Romania on 28 June, after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact) and out of a part of the Moldavian ASSR roughly equivalent to present-day Transnistria.

In 1941, after Axis forces invaded the Soviet Union during the Second World War, they defeated the Soviet troops in the region and occupied it. Romania controlled the entire region between Dniester and Southern Bug rivers, including the city of Odessa as local capital.[27]

The Romanian-administered territory – called the Transnistria Governorate – with an area of 44,000 km2 and a population of 2.3 million inhabitants, was divided into 13 counties: Ananiev, Balta, Berzovca, Dubasari, Golta, Jugastru, Movilau, Oceacov, Odessa, Ovidiopol, Rîbnița, Tiraspol and Tulcin. This enlarged Transnistria was home to nearly 200,000 Romanian/Moldovan-speaking residents.

The Romanian administration of Transnistria attempted to stabilise the situation in the area under Romanian control, implementing a process of Romanianization.[28]

During the Romanian occupation of 1941–44, between 150,000 and 250,000 Ukrainian and Romanian Jews were deported to Transnistria; the majority were executed or died from other causes in ghettos and concentration camps of the Governorate.[29]

After the Red Army reconquered the area in 1944, Soviet authorities executed, exiled or imprisoned hundreds of the Moldavian SSR inhabitants in the following months on charges of collaboration with the "German-fascist occupiers". A later campaign was directed against the rich peasant families, who were deported to Kazakhstan and Siberia. Over the course of two days, 6–7 July 1949, a plan named "Operation South" saw the deportation of over 11,342 families by order of the Moldovian Minister of State Security, Iosif Mordovets.[30]

In the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost in the Soviet Union allowed political liberalisation at a regional level. This led to the creation of various informal movements all over the country, and to a rise of nationalism within most Soviet republics. In the Moldavian SSR in particular, there was a significant resurgence of pro-Romanian nationalism among ethnic Moldovans.[31] The most prominent of these movements was the Popular Front of Moldova. In the spring of 1988, PFM demanded that the Soviet authorities declare Moldovan the only state language, return to the use of the Latin alphabet, and recognise the shared ethnic identity of Moldovans and Romanians. The more radical factions of the Popular Front espoused extreme anti-minority, ethnocentric and chauvinist positions,[32][33] calling for minority populations, particularly the Slavs (mainly Russians and Ukrainians) and Gagauz, to leave or be expelled from Moldova.[34]

On 31 August 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR adopted Moldovan as the only official language with Russian retained only for secondary purposes, returned Moldovan to the Latin alphabet, and declared a shared Moldovan-Romanian linguistic identity. As plans for major cultural changes in Moldova were made public, tensions rose further. Ethnic minorities felt threatened by the prospects of removing Russian as the official language, which served as the medium of interethnic communication, and by the possible future reunification of Moldova and Romania, as well as the ethnocentric rhetoric of the Popular Front. The Yedinstvo (Unity) Movement, established by the Slavic population of Moldova, pressed for equal status to be given to both Russian and Moldovan.[35] Transnistria's ethnic and linguistic composition differed significantly from most of the rest of Moldova. The share of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians was especially high and an overall majority of the population, some of them ethnic Moldovans, spoke Russian as a mother tongue.[36] Ethnic Moldovans accounted for less than 40% of Transnistria's population in 1989.

The nationalist Popular Front won the first free parliamentary elections in the Moldavian SSR in the spring of 1990,[37] and its agenda started slowly to be implemented. On 2 September 1990, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed as a Soviet republic by an ad hoc assembly, the Second Congress of the Peoples' Representatives of Transnistria. Violence escalated when in October 1990 the Popular Front called for volunteers to form armed militias to stop an autonomy referendum in Gagauzia, which had an even higher share of ethnic minorities. In response, volunteer militias were formed in Transnistria. In April 1990, nationalist mobs attacked ethnic Russian members of parliament, while the Moldovan police refused to intervene or restore order.[38]

In the interest of preserving a unified Moldavian SSR within the USSR and preventing the situation escalating further, then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, while citing the restriction of civil rights of ethnic minorities by Moldova as the cause of the dispute, declared the Transnistria proclamation to be lacking legal basis and annulled it by presidential decree on 22 December 1990.[39][40] Nevertheless, no significant action was taken against Transnistria and the new authorities were slowly able to establish control of the region.

The Transnistria War followed armed clashes on a limited scale which broke out between Transnistrian separatists and Moldova as early as November 1990 at Dubăsari. Volunteers, including Cossacks, came from Russia to help the separatist side.[41] In mid-April 1992, under the agreements on the split of the military equipment of the former Soviet Union negotiated between the former 15 republics in the previous months, Moldova created its own Defence Ministry. According to the decree of its creation, most of the 14th Soviet Army's military equipment was to be retained by Moldova.[42] Starting from 2 March 1992, there was concerted military action between Moldova and Transnistria. The fighting intensified throughout early 1992. The former Soviet 14th Guards Army entered the conflict in its final stage, opening fire against Moldovan forces;[42] approximately 700 people were killed. Moldova has since then exercised no effective control or influence on Transnistrian authorities. A ceasefire agreement, signed on 21 July 1992, has held to the present day.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is trying to facilitate a negotiated settlement. Under OSCE auspices, on 8 May 1997, Moldovan President Petru Lucinschi and Transnistrian president Igor Smirnov, signed the "Memorandum on the principles of normalization of the relations between the Republic of Moldova and Transnistria", also known as the "Primakov Memorandum", sustaining the establishment of legal and state relations, although the memorandum's provisions were interpreted differently by the governments of Moldova and Transnistria.

In November 2003, Dmitry Kozak, a counselor of Russian president Vladimir Putin, proposed a memorandum on the creation of an asymmetric federal Moldovan state, with Moldova holding a majority and Transnistria being a minority part of the federation.[43] Known as "the Kozak memorandum", it did not coincide with the Transnistrian position, which sought equal status between Transnistria and Moldova, but gave Transnistria veto powers over future constitutional changes; this encouraged Transnistria to sign it. Vladimir Voronin was initially supportive of the plan, but refused to sign it after internal opposition and international pressure from the OSCE and US, and after Russia had endorsed the Transnistrian demand to maintain a Russian military presence for the next 20 years as a guarantee for the intended federation.[44]

Talks were started in 2006 to deal with the problems, but without results for many years. In February 2011 the so-called "5 + 2 Talks" (thus named because they were carried out by Transnistria, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE, plus the US and the EU as external observers) were started again in Vienna.[45]
After the annexation of the Crimea by Russia in March 2014, the head of the Transnistrian parliament asked to join the Russian Federation.[46][47][48]

Transnistria is landlocked and borders Bessarabia (i.e., the rest of Moldova, for 411 km) to the west, and Ukraine (for 405 km) to the east. It is a narrow valley stretching north-south along the bank of the Dniester river, which forms a natural boundary along most of the border with (the rest of) Moldova.

The territory controlled by the PMR is mostly, but not completely, coincident with the left (eastern) bank of Dniester. It includes ten cities and towns, and 69 communes, with a total of 147 localities (counting the unincorporated ones as well). Six communes on the left bank (Cocieri, Molovata Nouă, Corjova, Pîrîta, Coșnița, and Doroțcaia) remained under the control of the Moldovan government after the War of Transnistria in 1992, as part of the Dubăsari District. They are situated north and south of the city of Dubăsari, which itself is under PMR control. The village of Roghi of Molovata Nouă Commune is also controlled by the PMR (Moldova controls the other nine of the ten villages of the six communes).

On the west bank, in Bessarabia, the city of Bender and four communes (containing six villages) to its east, south-east, and south, on the opposite bank of the river Dniester from the city of Tiraspol (Proteagailovca, Gîsca, Chițcani, and Cremenciug) are controlled by the PMR.

The localities controlled by Moldova on the eastern bank, the village of Roghi, and the city of Dubăsari (situated on the eastern bank and controlled by the PMR) form a security zone along with the six villages and one city controlled by the PMR on the western bank, as well as two (Varnița and Copanca) on the same west bank under Moldovan control. The security situation inside it is subject to the Joint Control Commission rulings.

The main transportation route in Transnistria is the road from Tiraspol to Rîbnița through Dubăsari. North and south of Dubăsari it passes through the lands of the villages controlled by Moldova (Doroțcaia, Cocieri, Roghi, while Vasilievca is entirely situated east of the road). Conflict erupted on several occasions when the PMR prevented the villagers from reaching their farmland east of the road.[49][50][51]

Transnistrians are able to travel (normally without difficulty) in and out of the territory under PMR control to neighbouring Moldovan-controlled territory, to Ukraine, and on to Russia, by road or (when service is not interrupted by political tensions) on two international trains, the year-round Moscow-Chișinău, and the seasonal Saratov-Varna. International air travellers rely on the airport in Chișinău, the Moldovan capital, or the airport in Odessa, in Ukraine.

Transnistria is subdivided into five districts (raions) and one municipality, the City of Tiraspol (which is entirely surrounded by but administratively distinct from Slobozia District), listed below from north to south (Russian names and transliterations are appended in parentheses). In addition, another municipality, the City of Bender, situated on the western bank of the Dniester, in Bessarabia, and geographically outside Transnistria, is not part of the territorial unit of Transnistria as defined by the Moldovan central authorities, but it is controlled by the PMR authorities, which consider it part of PMR's administrative organisation:

Between 1929 and 1940, Tiraspol functioned as the capital of the Moldavian ASSR, an autonomous republic which existed from 1924 to 1940 within the Ukrainian SSR .

Although exercising no direct control over the territory of Transnistria, the Moldovan government passed the "Law on Basic Provisions of the Special Legal Status of Localities from the Left Bank of the Dniester" on 22 July 2005, which established part of Transnistria (territory of Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic without Bender and without territories, which are under control of Moldova) as an autonomous territorial unit within the Republic of Moldova. The law was passed without any prior consultation with Transnistrian authorities, who called it a provocation and have since ignored it.[citation needed]

As of 2009[update] the population of Transnistria comprised about 555,000 people. 90% of the population of Transnistria are citizens of Transnistria.[52] Transnistrians have dual or triple citizenship, including:

Citizens of Moldova[53] – around 300,000 people (including dual citizens of Moldova and Russia (around 20,000[54]) or of Moldova and the EU states (around 80%) of Romania,[55][56] Bulgaria, or the Czech Republic)

Citizens of Russia – around 150,000 people (including around 15,000 dual citizens of Belarus, Israel, Turkey); excluding those holding dual citizenship of Russia and of Moldova (around 20,000)

Citizens of Ukraine – around 100,000 people[57] There are around 20,000–30,000 people with dual citizenship (Moldova and Ukraine, or Russia and Ukraine) or triple citizenship (Moldova, Russia and Ukraine). They are included in the number of Ukrainian citizens.[58]

Persons without citizenship – around 20,000–30,000 people

There are unsettled border issues between Transnistria and Moldova. Fifteen villages from the eleven communes of Dubăsari District, including Cocieri and Doroțcaia which geographically belong to Transnistria, have been under the control of the central government of Moldova after the involvement of local inhabitants on the side of Moldovan forces during the War of Transnistria. These villages, along with Varnița and Copanca, near Bender and Tiraspol, are claimed by the PMR. One city (Bender) and six villages on the west bank are controlled by the PMR, but are considered by Moldova as a separate municipality (Bender and village of Proteagailovca) or part of the Căușeni District (five villages in three communes).

Tense situations have periodically surfaced due to these territorial disputes, such as in 2005, when Transnistrian forces entered Vasilievca,[59]
in 2006 around Varnița, and in 2007 in the Dubăsari-Cocieri area, when a confrontation between Moldovan and Transnistrian forces occurred, however without any casualties.

The majority in the Parliament of Transnistria belongs to the Renewal movement which defeated the Republic party affiliated with Igor Smirnov in 2005 and performed even better in the 2010 and 2015 elections.

There is disagreement over whether elections in Transnistria are free and fair. The political regime has been described as one of "super-presidentialism".[61] During the 2006 presidential election, the registration of opposition candidate Andrey Safonov was delayed until a few days before the vote, so that he had little time to conduct an election campaign.[62][63] Some sources consider election results suspect. In 2001, in one region it was reported that Igor Smirnov collected 103.6% of the votes.[64] The PMR government said "the government of Moldova launched a campaign aimed at convincing international observers not to attend" an election held on 11 December 2005 – but CIS election monitors had ignored that and had declared the ballot democratic.

A list published by the European Union bans travel to the EU for some members of the Transnistrian leadership.[68]

In 2007, the registration of a Social Democratic Party was allowed. This party, led by former separatist leader and member of the PMR government Andrey Safonov, allegedly favours a union with Moldova.

In September 2007, the leader of the Transnistrian Communist Party, Oleg Horjan, was sentenced to a suspended sentence of 1½ years imprisonment for organising unsanctioned actions of protest.[69]

According to the 2006 referendum, carried out by the PMR government, 97.2% of the population voted in favour of "independence from Moldova and free association with Russia."[70] EU and several other countries refused to recognise the referendum results.

On 3 March 2006, Ukraine introduced new customs regulations on its border with Transnistria. Ukraine declared that it would import goods from Transnistria only with documents processed by Moldovan customs offices as part of the implementation of the joint customs protocol agreed between Ukraine and Moldova on 30 December 2005. Transnistria and Russia termed the act an "economic blockade".

The United States, the European Union and OSCE approved the Ukrainian move, while Russia saw it as a means of political pressure. On 4 March, Transnistria responded by blocking the Moldovan and Ukrainian transport at the borders of Transnistria. The Transnistrian block was lifted after two weeks. However, the Moldovan/Ukrainian block remains in place, and holds up progress in status settlement negotiations between the sides.[71] In the months after the regulations, exports from Transnistria declined drastically. Transnistria declared a "humanitarian catastrophe" in the region, while Moldova called the declaration "deliberate misinformation".[72] Cargoes of humanitarian aid were sent from Russia in response.

The 1992 cease-fire agreement between Moldova and Transnistria established a Russian peace-keeper presence in Transnistria and a 1,200 member Russian military contingent is present in Transnistria. Russian troops stationed in Moldova proper since the time of the USSR were fully withdrawn to Russia by January 1993.

In April 1995 the former Soviet 14th Guards Army became the Operational Group of Russian Forces, which by the 2010s had shrunk to two battalions and no more than 1,500 troops.

On 21 October 1994, Russia and Moldova signed an agreement that committed Russia to the withdrawal of the troops in three years from the date of entry into force of the agreement;[73] this did not come into effect, however, because the Russian Duma did not ratify it.[14] The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) included a paragraph about the removal of Russian troops from Moldova's territory and was introduced into the text of the OSCE Summit Declaration of Istanbul (1999) in which Russia had committed itself to pulling out its troops from Transnistria by the end of 2002.[74] However, even after 2002, the Russian parliament did not ratify the Istanbul accords. On 19 July 2004, after it finally passed through parliament President Vladimir Putin signed the Law on the ratification of the CFE Treaty in Europe, which committed Russia to remove the heavy armaments limited by this Treaty.[75] During 2000–2001, although the CFE Treaty was not fully ratified, to comply with it, Moscow withdrew 125 pieces of Treaty Limited Equipment (TLE) and 60 railway wagons containing ammunition from the Transnistrian region of Moldova. In 2002, Russia withdrew three trainloads (118 railway wagons) of military equipment and two (43 wagons) of ammunition from the Transnistrian region of Moldova, and in 2003, 11 rail convoys transporting military equipment and 31 transporting ammunition. According to the OSCE Mission to Moldova, of a total of 42,000 tons of ammunition stored in Transnistria, 1,153 tons (3%) was transported back to Russia in 2001, 2,405 tons (6%) in 2002 and 16,573 tons (39%) in 2003.[citation needed]

Andrei Stratan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Moldova stated in his speech during the 12th OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Sofia on 6–7 December 2004 that "The presence of Russian troops on the territory of the Republic of Moldova is against the political will of Moldovan constitutional authorities and defies the unanimously recognized international norms and principles, being qualified by Moldovan authorities as a foreign military occupation illegally deployed on the territory of the state".[76][77] As of 2007[update] however, Russia insists that it has already fulfilled those obligations. It states the remaining troops are serving as peacekeepers authorised under the 1992 ceasefire, are not in violation of the Istanbul accords and will remain until the conflict is fully resolved.[78] On the other hand, Moldova believes that fewer than 500 soldiers are authorised pursuant to the ceasefire and, in 2015, began to arrest and deport Russian soldiers who are part of the excess forces and attempt to use Moldovan airports.[79]

In a NATO resolution on 18 November 2008, Russia was urged to withdraw its military presence from the "Transdnestrian region of Moldova".[80]

In 2011, US Senator John McCain claimed in a visit to Moldova that Moscow is violating the territorial integrity of Moldova and Georgia and one of the "fundamental norms" of "international behavior".[81] On 21 May 2015, the Ukrainian parliament passed a law terminating five co-operation agreements with Russia. This law effectively terminates the "Agreement on transit of Russian military units temporarily located on the territory of the Republic of Moldova through the territory of Ukraine" dated 4 December 1998.[79][82]

One point of access for Russian soldiers traveling to Transnistria remains Chișinău International Airport and the short overland journey from there to Tiraspol. Over the years, Moldova has largely permitted Russian officers and soldiers to transit the airport on their way to Transnistria, though at some points (for example in 2015) Chișinău has periodically blocked and deported soldiers who were not clearly identified as international peacekeepers or who have failed to give sufficient advance notice. Chișinău would likely only ever agree to the possibility of moving employees, officers, and soldiers of the peacekeeping forces. The passage of soldiers of the 14th Army would be illegal.[83]

On 27 June, 2016, a new law entered in force in Transnistria, punishing actions or public statements, including through the usage of mass media, networks of information and telecommunications or the Internet, criticizing the peace-keeping mission of the Russian Army in the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic, or presenting interpretations perceived to be "false" by the Transnistrian government of the Russian Army's peacekeeping mission. The punishment is up to three years of jail for ordinary people or up to seven years of jail if the crime was committed by a person of responsibility or a group of persons by prior agreement.[84][better source needed]

The largest ethnic groups in 2015 were 161,300 Russians (34%), 156,600 Moldovans (33%), and 126,700 Ukrainians (26.7%). Bulgarians comprised 13,300 (2.8%), Gagauz 5,700 or 1.2% and Belorussians 2,800 or 0.6%. Germans accounted for 1,400 or 0.3% and Poles for 1,000 or 0.2%. Others accounted for 5,700 people or 1.2%. [87]

Of these, 439,243 lived in Transnistria itself, and 116,104 lived in localities controlled by the PMR government, but formally belonging to other districts of Moldova: the city of Bender (Tighina), the communes of Proteagailovca, Gîsca, Chițcani, Cremenciug, and the village of Roghi of commune Molovata Nouă.

Moldovans used to be the most numerous ethnic group, representing an overall majority in the two districts in the central Transnistria (Dubăsari District, 50.15%, and Grigoriopol District, 64.83%) a 47.82% relative majority in the northern Camenca District, and a 41.52% relative majority in the southern (Slobozia District). In Rîbnița District they were a 29.90% minority, and in the city of Tiraspol, they constituted a 15.24% minority of the population.

As per last census, Russians became the numerous ethnic group, representing a 41.64% relative majority in the city of Tiraspol, a 24.07% minority in Slobozia, a 19.03% minority in Dubăsari, a 17.22% minority in Râbnița, a 15.28% minority in Grigoriopol, and a 6.89% minority in Camenca.

Ukrainians were the third numerous ethnic group, representing a 45.41% relative majority in the northern Rîbnița District, a 42.55% minority in Camenca, a 32.97% minority in Tiraspol, a 28.29% minority in Dubăsari, a 23.42% minority in Slobozia, and a 17.36% minority in Grigoriopol. A substantial number of Poles clustered in northern Transnistria were Ukrainianized during Soviet rule.

Bulgarians were the fourth largest ethnic group in Transnistria, albeit much less numerous than the three larger ethnicities. Most Bulgarians in Transnistria are Bessarabian Bulgarians, descendants of expatriates who settled in Bessarabia in the 18th–19th century. The major centre of Bulgarians in Transnistria is the large village of Parcani (situated between the cities of Tiraspol and Bender), which had an absolute Bulgarian majority and a total population of around 10,000.

In Bender (Tighina) and the other non-Transnistria localities under PMR control, ethnic Russians represented a 43.43% relative majority, followed by Moldovans at 26.15%, Ukrainians at 17.08%, Bulgarians at 2.89%, Gagauzians at 1.03%, Jews at 0.34%, Poles at 0.17%, Roma at 0.13%, and others at 7.78%.

At the census of 1989, the population was 679,000 (including all the localities in the security zone, even those under Moldovan control). The ethnic composition of the region has been unstable in recent history, with the most notable change being the decreasing share of Moldovan and Jewish population segments and increase of the Russian. For example, the percentage of Russians grew from 13.7% in 1926 to 25.5% in 1989 and further to 30.4% in 2004, while the Moldovan population decreased from 44.1% in 1926 to 39.9% in 1989 and 31.9% in 2004. Only the proportion of Ukrainians remained reasonably stable – 27.2% in 1926, 28.3% in 1989 and 28.8 in 2004.

Transnistria's government has supported the restoration and construction of new orthodox churches. It affirms that the republic has freedom of religion and states that 114 religious beliefs and congregations are officially registered. However, as recently as 2005, registration hurdles were met with by some religious groups, notably the Jehovah's Witnesses.[93] In 2007, the US-based Christian Broadcasting Network denounced the persecution of Protestants in Transnistria.[94]

Transnistria has a mixed economy. Following a large scale privatisation process in the late 90s,[95] most of the companies in Transnistria are now privately owned. The economy is based on a mix of heavy industry (steel production), electricity production, and manufacturing (textile production), which together account for about 80% of the total industrial output.[96]

After World War II, Transnistria was heavily industrialised, to the point that, in 1990, it was responsible for 40% of Moldova's GDP and 90% of its electricity,[103] although it accounted for only 17% of Moldova's population. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Transnistria wanted to return to a "Brezhnev-style planned economy".[104] However, several years later, it decided to head toward a market economy.

According to the government of Transnistria, the 2007 GDP was 6789 mln Transnistrian roubles (appx US$799 million) and the GDP per capita was about US$1,500. The GDP increased by 11.1% and inflation rate was 19.3% with the GDP per capita now being $2,140, higher than Moldova's GDP per capita which is $2,040.[105] Transnistria's government budget for 2007 was US$246 million, with an estimated deficit of about US$100 million[106] which the government planned to cover with income from privatisations.[107] Budget for 2008 is US$331 million, with an estimated deficit of about US$80 million.[108]

In 2004, Transnistria had debts of US$1.2 billion (two-thirds of which are with Russia) which was per capita about six times higher than in Moldova (without Transnistria).[109] In March 2007 the debt to Gazprom for the acquisition of natural gas has increased to US$1.3 billion. On 22 March 2007 Gazprom sold Transnistria's gas debt to the Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov, who controls Moldova Steel Works, the largest enterprise in Transnistria. Transnistria's president Igor Smirnov has announced that Transnistria will not pay its gas debt because "Transnistria has no legal debt to Gazprom".[110][111] In November 2007, the total debt of Transnistria's public sector was up to US$1.64 billion.[108]

According to a 2007 interview with Yevgeny Shevchuk, the then-speaker of the Transnistrian Supreme Council, Transnistria is in a difficult economic situation. Despite a 30% tax increase in 2007, the pension fund is still lacking money and emergency measures must be taken.[112] However, Shevchuk mentioned that the situation is not hopeless and it cannot be considered a crisis, as a crisis means three-month delays in payment of pensions and salaries.[113]

In 2006, the Transnistrian Republican Bank reported exports of US$422.0 million and imports of US$738.4 million. Compared to 2005, export decreased 27.2% and import decreased 13.7%. The trade deficit reached US$316.3 million.[114] Over 50% of the export went to the CIS, mainly to Russia, but also to Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova (whom Transnistrian authorities consider foreign).[95][96] Main non-CIS markets for the Transnistrian goods were Italy, Egypt, Greece, Romania, and Germany.[95] The CIS accounted for over 60% of the imports, while the share of the EU was about 23%. The main imports were non-precious metals, food products and electricity.

After Moldova signed the Association Agreement with EU in 2014, Transnistria, being de jure part of Moldova enjoyed the tariff-free exports to the EU. As a result, in 2015, 27% of Transnistria's US$189 million export went to the EU, while exports to Russia went down to 7.7%. This shift towards the EU market continued to grow in 2016.[115]

The leading industry is steel, due to the Moldova Steel Works (part of the Russian Metalloinvest holding) in Rîbnița, which accounts for about 60% of the budget revenue of Transnistria.[70] The largest company in the textile industry is Tirotex, which claims to be the second largest textile company in Europe.[116] The energy sector is dominated by Russian companies. The largest power company Moldavskaya GRES (Kuchurgan power station) which is in Dnestrovsc and owned by Inter RAO UES,[117] and the gas transmission and distribution company Tiraspoltransgas is probably controlled by Gazprom, although Gazprom has not confirmed the ownership officially. The banking sector of Transnistria consists of 8 commercial banks, including Gazprombank. The oldest alcohol producer KVINT, located in Tiraspol, produces and exports brandy, wines and vodka.

The human rights record of Transnistria has been criticised by several governments and international organisations.[which?] The 2007 Freedom in the World report, published by the US-based Freedom House, described Transnistria as a "non-free" territory, having an equally bad situation in both political rights and civil liberties.[118]

The right of citizens to change their government was restricted.... Authorities reportedly continued to use torture and arbitrary arrest and detention.... In Transnistria authorities limited freedom of speech and of the press....Authorities usually did not permit free assembly.... In the separatist region of Transnistria the authorities continued to deny registration and harassed a number of minority religious groups.... The separatist region remained a significant source and transit area for trafficking in persons.... Homosexuality was illegal, and gays and lesbians were subject to governmental and societal discrimination.

According to a US Department of State report for 2006, "Both of the region's major newspapers were controlled by the authorities. There was one independent weekly newspaper in Bender and another in the northern city of Rîbnița.... Separatist authorities harassed independent newspapers for critical reporting of the Transnistrian regime.... Most television and radio stations and print publication were controlled by Transnistrian authorities, which largely dictated their editorial policies and finance operations. Some broadcast networks, such as the TSV television station and the INTER-FM radio station, were owned by Transnistria's largest monopoly, Sheriff, which also holds a majority in the region's legislature.... In July 2005 the Transnistrian Supreme Council amended the election code to prohibit media controlled by the Transnistrian authorities from publishing results of polls and forecasts related to elections."[121]

The OSCE mission to Moldova has urged local authorities in the Transnistrian city of Rîbnița to return a confiscated building to the Moldovan Latin script school in the city. The unfinished building was nearing completion in 2004, when Transnistria took control of it during that year's school crisis.[124]

In November 2005 Ion Iovcev, the principal of a Romanian-language school in Transnistria and active advocate for human rights as well as a critic of the Transnistrian leadership, received threatening calls that he attributed to his criticism of the separatist regime.[121]

Following the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the Russian 14th Army left 40,000 tonnes of weaponry and ammunition in Transnistria. In later years there were concerns[who?] that the Transnistrian authorities would try to sell these stocks internationally, and intense pressure was applied to have these removed by the Russian Federation.

In 2000 and 2001, the Russian Federation withdrew by rail, 141 self-propelled artillery pieces and other armoured vehicles and destroyed locally, 108 T-64 tanks and 139 other pieces of military equipment limited by the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). During 2002 and 2003 Russian military officials destroyed a further 51 armoured vehicles, all of which were types not limited by the CFE Treaty. The OSCE also observed and verified the withdrawal of 48 trains with military equipment and ammunition in 2003. However, no further withdrawal activities have taken place since March 2004 and a further 20,000 tons of ammunition, as well as some remaining military equipment are still to be removed.

In the autumn of 2006, the Transnistrian leadership agreed to let an OSCE inspectorate examine the munitions and further access was agreed moving forward.

Recent weapons inspections were permitted by Transnistria and conducted by the OSCE.
The onus of responsibility rests on the Russian Federation to remove the rest of the supplies.

Transnistrian authorities declared that they are not involved in the manufacture or export of weapons. OSCE and European Union officials stated in 2005 that there is no evidence that Transnistria "has ever trafficked arms or nuclear material" and much of the alarm is due to the Moldovan government's attempts to pressure Transnistria.[126]

In 2007, foreign experts working on behalf of the United Nations said that the historically low levels of transparency and continued denial of full investigations to international monitors have reinforced negative perceptions of the Transnistrian government, although recent co-operation by Transnistrian authorities may have reflected a shift in the attitude of Transnistria.[127] Their report stated that the evidence for the illicit production and trafficking of weapons into and from Transnistria, has in the past been exaggerated, although the trafficking of light weapons is likely to have occurred before 2001 (the last year when export data showed US$900,000 worth of 'weapons, munitions, their parts and accessories' exported from Transnistria). The report also states that the same holds true for the production of such weapons, which is likely to have been carried out in the 1990s, primarily to equip Transnistrian forces.

The OSCE mission spokesman Claus Neukirch spoke about this situation: "There is often talk about sale of armaments from Transnistria, but there is no convincing evidence."[128]

In 2010, Viktor Kryzhanovskyi, Ukraine's special envoy on Transnistria, stated that there was no ongoing arms trafficking or drug trafficking through the Transnistrian section of the Ukrainian-Moldovan border at the time.[129]

1.
Moldovan language
–
Soviet policy emphasized distinctions between Moldovans and Romanians due to their different histories. Its resolution declared Moldovan a distinct language independent of Romanian, since the reintroduction of the Latin script in 1989, the 1991 Declaration of Independence of Moldova identified the official language as Romanian. The 1994 Constitution provided official status only to Moldovan, the status of the official language was further legislated in the early 2000s. The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova adopted a law defining Moldovan and Romanian as designations for the same language, the breakaway region of Transnistria continues to recognize Moldovan as one of its official languages, along with Russian and Ukrainian. The variety of Romanian spoken in Moldova is the Moldavian subdialect, the two countries share the same literary standard. In the 21st century, Moldovan has been declared as one of three languages of the breakaway Moldovan territory of Transnistria, alongside Russian and Ukrainian. The word Moldavian is also used to refer collectively to the varieties of spoken Romanian. The Moldavian variety is considered one of the five major varieties of Romanian. There is no particular linguistic break at the Prut River, the border between Romania and Moldova, in schools in Moldova, the term Romanian language has been used since independence. In 2007, Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin asked for the term to be changed to Moldovan language, but due to public pressure against that choice, the standard alphabet is equivalent to the Romanian alphabet. Until 1918, varieties of the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet were used, the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet was used in 1924–1932 and 1938–89, and remains in use in Transnistria. The history of the Moldovan language refers to the evolution of the glottonym Moldavian/Moldovan in Moldova. From a linguistic perspective, Moldovan is a name for the varieties of the Romanian language spoken in the Republic of Moldova. Before 1918, during the period between the wars, and after the union of Bessarabia with Romania, scholars did not have consensus that Moldovans and the Romanians formed a single ethnic group. Missing out all the important moments in the, The Moldovan peasants had grown up in a different entity and they identified as Moldovans speaking the language Moldovan. This caused reactions from pan-Romanian nationalists, the concept of the distinction of Moldovan from Romanian was explicitly stated only in the early 20th century. It accompanied the raising of awareness among Moldovans, with the Soviets emphasizing distinctions between Moldavians and Romanians. Major developments since the fall of the Soviet Union include resuming use of a Latin script in 1989, Moldovan was assigned the code mo in ISO 639-1 and code mol in ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3

2.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi

3.
Ukrainian language
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Ukrainian /juːˈkreɪniən/ is an East Slavic language. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic script, historical linguists trace the origin of the Ukrainian language to the Old East Slavic of the early medieval state of Kievan Rus. After the fall of the Kievan Rus as well as the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, the Modern Ukrainian language has been in common use since the late 17th century, associated with the establishment of the Cossack Hetmanate. From 1804 until the Russian Revolution, the Ukrainian language was banned from schools in the Russian Empire and it has always maintained a sufficient base in Western Ukraine, where the language was never banned, in its folklore songs, itinerant musicians, and prominent authors. The Ukrainian language retains a degree of intelligibility with Belarusian and Russian. The first theory of the origin of Ukrainian language was suggested in Imperial Russia in the middle of the 18th century by Mikhail Lomonosov and this theory posits the existence of a common language spoken by all East Slavic people in the time of the Rus. Another point of view developed during the 19th and 20th centuries by linguists of Imperial Russia, like Lomonosov, they assumed the existence of a common language spoken by East Slavs in the past. This general point of view is the most accepted amongst academics worldwide, the supporters of this theory disagree, however, about the time when the different languages were formed. Soviet scholars set the divergence between Ukrainian and Russian only at time periods. During the time of the incorporation of Ruthenia into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and this point of view is, however, at variance with some historical data. In fact, several East Slavic tribes, such as Polans, Drevlyans, Severians, Dulebes, White Croats, Tiverians, notably, some Ukrainian features were recognizable in the southern dialects of Old East Slavic as far back as the language can be documented. In contrast, Ahatanhel Krymsky and Alexei Shakhmatov assumed the existence of the spoken language of Eastern Slavs only in prehistoric times. According to their point of view, the diversification of the Old East Slavic language took place in the 8th or early 9th century, Ukrainian linguist Stepan Smal-Stotsky went even further, denying the existence of a common Old East Slavic language at any time in the past. Similar points of view were shared by Yevhen Tymchenko, Vsevolod Hantsov, Olena Kurylo, Ivan Ohienko, according to this theory, the dialects of East Slavic tribes evolved gradually from the common Proto-Slavic language without any intermediate stages during the 6th through 9th centuries. The Ukrainian language was formed by convergence of tribal dialects, mostly due to a migration of the population within the territory of todays Ukraine in later historical periods. This point of view was supported by George Shevelovs phonological studies. During the 13th century, when German settlers were invited to Ukraine by the princes of Galicia-Vollhynia and their influence would continue under Poland not only through German colonists but also through the Yiddish-speaking Jews. Often such words involve trade or handicrafts, examples of words of German or Yiddish origin spoken in Ukraine include dakh, rura, rynok, kushnir, and majster

4.
United Nations
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The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict, at its founding, the UN had 51 member states, there are now 193. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, the UNs mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in actions in Korea and the Congo. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military, the UN has six principal organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Trusteeship Council. UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, the UNs most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UNs work, the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UNs effectiveness have been mixed, some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. It incorporated Soviet suggestions, but left no role for France, four Policemen was coined to refer to four major Allied countries, United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China, which emerged in the Declaration by United Nations. Roosevelt first coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries, the term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration. One major change from the Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. Each Government pledges itself to cooperate with the Governments signatory hereto, the foregoing declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism. During the war, the United Nations became the term for the Allies. To join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis, at the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, the General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN Secretary-General

5.
Moldova
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Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova (Romanian, Republica Moldova, listen, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. In 1856, southern Bessarabia was returned to Moldavia, but Russian rule was restored over the whole of the region in 1878, Bessarabia remained a province of the Russian Empire until 1917, when during the Russian Revolution it became an autonomous and then nominally independent Moldavian Democratic Republic. In 1918, following a vote of its assembly, Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania, the decision was disputed by Soviet Russia, which in 1924, created within the Ukrainian SSR, on a territory east of Bessarabia, a so-called Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1940, as a consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Romania was compelled to cede Bessarabia to the Soviet Union, the Soviets decided to split the region between a newly established Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Ukrainian SSR. The Moldavian SSR included two-thirds of the territory of Bessarabia, on 27 August 1991, as part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Moldavian SSR declared independence and took the name Moldova. The current Constitution of Moldova was adopted in 1994, the strip of the Moldovan territory on the east bank of the Dniester river has been under the de facto control of the breakaway government of Transnistria since 1990. Its economy is the poorest in Europe in per capita terms, Moldova is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government. The name Moldova derives from the Moldova River, the valley of this served as a political centre at the time of the foundation of the Principality of Moldavia in 1359. The origin of the name of the river remains unclear, the dogs name, given to the river, extended to the Principality. For a short time in the 1990s, at the founding of the Commonwealth of Independent States, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country began to use the Romanian name, Moldova. Officially, the name Republic of Moldova is designated by the United Nations, in 2010, Oldowan flint tools were discovered at Bayraki that are 800, 000–1.2 million years old. This demonstrates that humans were present in Moldova during the early Paleolithic era. The inhabitants of this civilization, which lasted roughly from 5500 to 2750 BC, practiced agriculture, raised livestock, hunted, in antiquity, Moldovas territory was inhabited by Dacian tribes. Between the 1st and 7th centuries AD, the south was intermittently under the Roman, and then Byzantine Empires. The Principality of Moldavia, established in 1359, was bounded by the Carpathian Mountains in the west, the Dniester River in the east, and the Danube River and Black Sea to the south. Its territory comprised the territory of the Republic of Moldova, the eastern eight counties of Romania. Like the present-day republic and Romanias north-eastern region, it was known to the locals as Moldova, Moldavia was invaded repeatedly by Crimean Tatars and, beginning in the 15th century, by the Turks. In 1538, the principality became a tributary to the Ottoman Empire, the title used in the document of 6 July 1600 was The King of the country of Romania, Ardeal and of all of Moldavia

6.
Flag of Transnistria
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The flag of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic consists of three equal horizontal bands of red, green and red with the golden hammer and sickle and a gold-bordered red star in the upper canton. Transnistria adopted this design that comprised a version of the 1952-1990 flag of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in the 2000 Law about State Symbols, the flag of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic served as the republics flag until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. When Moldova became independent, some places in Transnistria refused to fly the new Moldovan flag, continued use of the flag of the former Moldavian SSR was popular and it was officially reintroduced as the flag of Transnistria in 2000. Confusingly, despite the flag and coat of arms, Transnistria is not a socialist state, for government usage, only the state flag is valid. Transnistrian law permits the use a version of the flag for non-governmental use without the hammer and sickle and red star. The most common size is still 1,2, but 2,3 versions have also been used, the presidential flag is a 1,1, yellow fringed version of the civil flag with the coat-of-arms in the centre. It was adopted on 18 July 2000 and replaced a version dating from 1997. The army flag is a flag with a yellow bordered red cross. It is similar to that of the Moldovan army, but does not include the Moldovan coat-of-arms, a customs flag is also in use by Transnistrian customs. It is a green flag with two red bands at the bottom. The central part of the flag is dominated by the symbol of Transnistrian customs, the reasons stated for the change of the flag is purely political, it includes the desire to create closer ties with Russia, a guarantor of Transnistrias independence from Moldova. In a 2006 referendum,97. 2% of Transnistrians voted in favour of increased association with Russia, the new flag would be used alongside the current state flag. Coat of arms of Transnistria Flag of Moldova Presidents website for state flag Parliaments website for law on state flag Flagspot article about Transnistrian flag

8.
Romanisation of Russian
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Romanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic script into the Latin alphabet. Scientific transliteration, also known as the International Scholarly System, is a system that has used in linguistics since the 19th century. It is based on the Czech alphabet and formed the basis of the GOST, OST8483 was the first Soviet standard on romanization of Russian, introduced in 16 October 1935. This standard is an equivalent of GOST 16876-71 and was adopted as a standard of the COMECON. GOST7. 79-2000 System of Standards on Information, Librarianship and it is the official standard of both Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Machine readable passports is an adoption of an ICAO stadards for travel documents and it was used in Russian passports for a short period during 2010–2013. The standard was substituted in 2013 by GOST R ISO/IEC 7501-1-2013, which does not contain romanization, ISO/R9, established in 1954 and updated in 1968, was the adoption of the scientific transliteration by the International Organization for Standardization. It covers Russian and seven other Slavic languages, ISO9,1995 is the current transliteration standard from ISO. It is based on its predecessor ISO/R9,1968, which it deprecates, for Russian, the UNGEGN, a Working Group of the United Nations, in 1987 recommended a romanization system for geographical names, which was based on the 1983 version of GOST 16876-71. It may be found in some international cartographic products, American Library Association and Library of Congress romanization tables for Slavic alphabets are used in North American libraries and in the British Library since 1975. The formal, unambiguous version of the system requires some diacritics and two-letter tie characters, British Standard 2979,1958 is the main system of the Oxford University Press, and a variation was used by the British Library to catalogue publications acquired up to 1975. The BGN/PCGN system is relatively intuitive for Anglophones to read and pronounce, the portion of the system pertaining to the Russian language was adopted by BGN in 1944 and by PCGN in 1947. In Soviet international passports, transliteration was based on French rules, in 1997, with the introduction of new Russian passports, a diacritic-free English-oriented system was established by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but this system was also abandoned in 2010. In 2006, GOST52535. 1-2006 was adopted, which defines technical requirements and standards for Russian international passports, in 2010, the Federal Migratory Service of Russia approved Order No. 26, stating that all names in the passports issued after 2010 must be transliterated using GOST52535. 1-2006. The standard was abandoned in 2013, finally in 2013, Order No.320 of the Federal Migratory Service of Russia came into force. It states that all names in the passports must be transliterated using the ICAO system. This system differs from the GOST52535. 1-2006 system in two things, ц is transliterated into ts, ъ is transliterated into ie, Scholarly ¹ Some archaic letters are transcribed in different ways

9.
Tiraspol
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Tiraspol is internationally recognised as the second largest city in Moldova, but is effectively the capital and administrative centre of the unrecognised Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. The city is located on the bank of the Dniester River. Tiraspol is a hub of light industry, such as furniture. The modern city of Tiraspol was founded by the Russian generalissimo Alexander Suvorov in 1792, the city celebrates its anniversary every year on October 14. The toponym consists of two ancient Greek words, Τύρας, Tyras, the Ancient name for the Dniester River, and polis, i. e. a city. Tyras, also spelled Tiras, was a colony of the Greek city Miletus, probably founded about 600 BC, of no great importance in early times in the 2nd century BC, it fell under the dominion of indigenous kings whose names appear on its coins. It was destroyed by the Thracian Getae about 50 BC, in 56 AD the Romans restored the city and made it part of the colonial province of Lower Moesia. A series of its coins exist that feature heads of Roman emperors from Domitian to Severus Alexander, soon after the time of the latter, the city was destroyed again, this time by the invasion of the Goths. Its government was in the hands of five archons, a senate, a popular assembly, the images on its coins from this period suggest a trade in wheat, wine and fish. The few inscriptions extant are mostly concerned with trade, such ancient archeological remains are scanty, as the city site was built over by the great medieval fortress of Monocastro or Akkerman. During the Middle Ages, the area around Tiraspol was a zone between the Tatars and the Moldavians, and inhabited by both ethnic groups. The Russian Empire conquered its way to the Dniester River, taking territory from the Ottoman Empire, in 1792 the Russian army built fortifications to guard the western border near a Moldavian village named Sucleia. Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov is considered the founder of modern Tiraspol, the city took its name from Tyras, the Greek name of the Dniester River on which it stands. In 1828 the Russian government established a house in Tiraspol to try to suppress smuggling. The customs house was subordinated to the chief of the Odessa customs region and it began operations with 14 employees. They inspected shipments of bread, paper, oil, wine, sugar, fruits, after the Russian Revolution, the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created in Ukraine in 1924, with Balta as its capital. The republic had Romanian, Ukrainian and Russian as its official languages and its capital was moved in 1929 to Tiraspol, which remained the capital of the Moldavian ASSR until 1940. In 1940, following the provisions of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

10.
Ethnic group
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An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities, such as common ancestral, language, social, cultural or national experiences. Unlike other social groups, ethnicity is often an inherited status based on the society in which one lives, in some cases, it can be adopted if a person moves into another society. Ethnic groups, derived from the historical founder population, often continue to speak related languages. By way of language shift, acculturation, adoption and religious conversion, it is possible for individuals or groups to leave one ethnic group. Ethnicity is often used synonymously with terms such as nation or people. In English, it can also have the connotation of something exotic, generally related to cultures of more recent immigrants, the largest ethnic groups in modern times comprise hundreds of millions of individuals, while the smallest are limited to a few dozen individuals. Conversely, formerly separate ethnicities can merge to form a pan-ethnicity, whether through division or amalgamation, the formation of a separate ethnic identity is referred to as ethnogenesis. The term ethnic is derived from the Greek word ἔθνος ethnos, the inherited English language term for this concept is folk, used alongside the latinate people since the late Middle English period. In Early Modern English and until the mid-19th century, ethnic was used to mean heathen or pagan, as the Septuagint used ta ethne to translate the Hebrew goyim the nations, non-Hebrews, non-Jews. The Greek term in antiquity could refer to any large group, a host of men. In the 19th century, the term came to be used in the sense of peculiar to a race, people or nation, the abstract ethnicity had been used for paganism in the 18th century, but now came to express the meaning of an ethnic character. The term ethnic group was first recorded in 1935 and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972, depending on the context that is used, the term nationality may either be used synonymously with ethnicity, or synonymously with citizenship. The process that results in the emergence of an ethnicity is called ethnogenesis, the Greeks at this time did not describe foreign nations but had also developed a concept of their own ethnicity, which they grouped under the name of Hellenes. Herodotus gave an account of what defined Greek ethnic identity in his day, enumerating shared descent. Whether ethnicity qualifies as a universal is to some extent dependent on the exact definition used. Many social scientists, such as anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric Wolf and they regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups. According to Thomas Hylland Eriksen, the study of ethnicity was dominated by two distinct debates until recently, one is between primordialism and instrumentalism. In the primordialist view, the participant perceives ethnic ties collectively, as a given, even coercive

11.
Russians
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Russians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. The majority of Russians inhabit the state of Russia, while notable minorities exist in Ukraine, Kazakhstan. A large Russian diaspora exists all over the world, with numbers in the United States, Germany, Israel. Russians are the most numerous group in Europe. They are predominantly Orthodox Christians by religion, the Russian language is official in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and also spoken as a secondary language in many former Soviet states. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians. One is русские, which most often means ethnic Russians, another is россияне, which means citizens of Russia. The former word refers to ethnic Russians, regardless of what country they live in, under certain circumstances this term may or may not extend to denote members of other Russian-speaking ethnic groups from Russia, or from the former Soviet Union. The latter word refers to all people holding citizenship of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity, translations into other languages often do not distinguish these two groups. The name of the Russians derives from the Rus people, the name Rus would then have the same origin as the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden, Ruotsi and Rootsi. According to other theories the name Rus is derived from Proto-Slavic *roud-s-ь, the modern Russians formed from two groups of East Slavic tribes, Northern and Southern. The tribes involved included the Krivichs, Ilmen Slavs, Radimichs, Vyatiches, genetic studies show that modern Russians do not differ significantly from Belarusians and Ukrainians. Some ethnographers, like Zelenin, affirm that Russians are more similar to Belarusians, such Uralic peoples included the Merya and the Muromians. Outside archaeological remains, little is known about the predecessors to Russians in general prior to 859 AD when the Primary Chronicle starts its records and it is thought that by 600 AD, the Slavs had split linguistically into southern, western, and eastern branches. Later, both Belarusians and South Russians formed on this ethnic linguistic ground, the same Slavic ethnic population also settled the present-day Tver Oblast and the region of Beloozero. With the Uralic substratum, they formed the tribes of the Krivichs, in 2010, the worlds Russian population was 129 million people of which 86% were in Russia,11. 5% in the CIS and Baltic countries, with a further 2. 5% living in other countries. Roughly 111 million ethnic Russians live in Russia, 80% of whom live in the European part of Russia, ethnic Russians historically migrated throughout the area of former Russian Empire and Soviet Union, sometimes encouraged to re-settle in borderlands by the Tsarist and later Soviet government. On some occasions ethnic Russian communities, such as Lipovans who settled in the Danube delta or Doukhobors in Canada, after the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War starting in 1917, many Russians were forced to leave their homeland fleeing the Bolshevik regime, and millions became refugees

12.
Moldovans
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Moldovans are the largest population group of the Republic of Moldova, and a significant minority in Ukraine and Russia. This article refers primarily to the Romance language-speaking ethnic group native to Moldova, there is an ongoing controversy whether Moldovans are a fully fledged ethnic group or a regional subgroup of the Romanian ethnic group. Also, the Slavic neighbours called Moldovans Vlachs or Volokhs, a term used to refer to all native Romance speakers from Eastern Europe. Until the 1920s, historians generally considered Moldovans as a subgroup of the Romanian ethnos, if in the past, the term Moldovan has been used to refer to the population of the historical Principality of Moldavia. In 1918, Bessarabia joined the Kingdom of Romania, following a vote of Sfatul Ţării, the circumstance of the vote was itself complex, since the Romanian troops were present in Bessarabia at the request of the Sfatul Ţării as it was facing exterior threats and anarchy. The unified Romanian state promoted a common identity for all its Romanian-speaking inhabitants, in 1940, during World War II, Romania agreed to an ultimatum and ceded the region to the Soviet Union, which organized it into the Moldavian SSR. A poll conducted in the Republic of Moldova by IMAS-Inc Chișinău in October 2009 presented a detailed picture, the respondents were asked to rate the relationship between the identity of Moldovans and that of Romanians on a scale between 1 to 5. The results varied significantly among different categories of subjects, for instance, while 33% of the young respondents chose the same or very similar and 44% different or very different, among the senior respondents the corresponding figures were 18. 5% and 53%. A survey carried out in the Republic of Moldova in 1992 showed that 87% of the Romanian/Moldovan speakers chose to identify themselves as Moldovans, the major Moldovan political forces have diverging opinions regarding the identity of Moldovans. This contradiction is reflected in their stance towards the history that should be taught in schools. Governing forces such as the Liberal Party, Liberal Democratic Party, a significant number of intellectuals from the Bessarabia considered themselves part of the Romanian nation in the passing of time. Our brothers from Bukovina, Transylvania and Macedonia dont call themselves after the places they live in and that is what we should do as well. I think people come here not forced, but freely, for a return to their brothers and he is often quoted as saying We are Romanians, period. The 2004 census results reported that out of the 3,383,332 people living in Moldova,75. 81% declared themselves Moldovans, the 2001 census in Ukraine counted 258,600 Moldovans and 150,989 Romanians. In Russia,172,330 Moldovans have been counted in the 2002 Russian census and they are concentrated mostly in Moscow, but also in some rural areas in Kuban, southern Siberia, and the Russian Far East, where they were deported generations ago. Around 20,000 Moldovans live in Kazakhstan, mostly in the former capital Almaty, the largest share of the territory of the historical Principality of Moldavia together with all its formal capitals and the famous painted churches are located in Romania. The river Moldova now flows entirely through Romania, after the Russian annexation of Bessarabia in 1812, and Austrian annexation of Bukovina in 1775, the rest of Moldova united with Wallachia and formed the modern Romania. In 1998, Constantin Simirad, the mayor of Iaşi founded the Party of the Moldavians which later joined the Social Democratic Party

13.
Ukrainians
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Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is by total population the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term Ukrainians to all its citizens, also among historical names of the people of Ukraine Rusyns, Cossacks, etc. can be found. According to some definitions, a descriptive name for the inhabitants of Ukraine is Ukrainian or Ukrainian people. Belarusians and Russians are considered among the bloodline of Ukrainians, while Rusyns are another closely related group, the ethnonym Ukrainians became widely accepted only in the 20th century after their territory obtained distinctive statehood in 1917. People of these territories were usually called Rus or Rusyns, the Ukrainian language appeared in the 14th – 16th centuries, but at that time, it was mostly known as Ruthenian, like its brothers. In the 16th – 17th centuries, with the establishment of the Zaporizhian Sich, however, the ethnonym Ukrainians and the linguonym Ukrainian were used only occasionally, and the people of Ukraine usually continued to call themselves and their language Ruthenian. This official name did not spread widely among the peasantry constituted the majority of the population. Ukrainian peasants still referred to their country as Ukraine and to themselves, in areas outside the control of the Russian/Soviet state until the mid-20th century, Ukrainians were known by their pre-existing names for much longer. The modern name derives from Ukrayina, a name first documented in 1187. Several scientific theories attempt to explain the etymology of the term, according to some new alternative Ukrainian historians such as Hryhoriy Pivtorak, Vitaly Sklyarenko and other scholars, translate the term u-kraine as in-land, home-land or our-country. The name in this context derives from the word u-kraina in the sense of domestic region, in the last few centuries the population of Ukraine experienced periods of Polonization and Russification, but preserved a common culture and a sense of common identity. Most ethnic Ukrainians live in Ukraine, where make up over three-quarters of the population. The inhabitants of the Kuban, for example, have vacillated among three identities, Ukrainian, Russian, and Cossack, approximately 800,000 people of Ukrainian ancestry live in the Russian Far East in an area known historically as Green Ukraine. According to some assumptions, an estimated number of almost 2.1 million people of Ukrainian origin live in North America. Large numbers of Ukrainians live in Brazil, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Poland, Argentina, Belarus, Portugal, there are also Ukrainian diasporas in the UK, Australia, Germany, Latvia, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Ireland, Sweden and the former Yugoslavia. Today, large ethnic Ukrainian minorities reside in Russia, Canada, Ukrainians have one of the largest diasporas in the world. The East Slavs emerged from the undifferentiated early Slavs with the Slavic migrations in the 6th and 7th centuries CE, the East Slavs were united in the Kievan Rus during the 9th to 13th centuries. East Slavic tribes cited as proto-Ukrainian include the Volhynians, Derevlianians, Polianians, and Siverianians and the less significant Ulychians, Tivertsians, the Gothic historian Jordanes and 6th-century Byzantine authors named two groups that lived in the south-east of Europe, Sclavins and Antes

14.
Bulgarians
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Bulgarians are a South Slavic ethnic group who are native to Bulgaria and its neighboring regions. Bulgarian citizenship shall further be acquirable through naturalization, the population of Bulgaria descend from peoples with different origins and numbers. They became assimilated by the Slavic settlers in the First Bulgarian Empire, from the indigenous Thracian people certain cultural and ethnic elements were taken. Other pre-Slavic Indo-European peoples, including Dacians, Celts, Goths, Romans, Greeks, the Thracian language has been described as a southern Baltic language. Some pre-Slavic linguistic and cultural traces might have preserved in modern Bulgarians. Medieval historians claimed that the Triballi are the largest tribe and that subsequently changed their name to Bulgarians or Serbs. Others claimed that the Paeonians are Bulgarians, others claimed that the Moesi, according to archeological evidence from the late periods of Roman rule, the Romans did not decrease the number of Thracians significantly in major cities. The latter gradually inflicting total linguistic replacement of Thracian if the Thracians had not already been Romanized or Hellenized and they continued coming to the Balkans in many waves, but also leaving, most notably Justinian II settled as many as 30,000 Slavs from Thrace in Asia Minor. The Byzantines grouped the numerous Slavic tribes into two groups, the Sklavenoi and Antes, some Bulgarian scholars suggest that the Antes became one of the ancestors of the modern Bulgarians. The control of the Bulgars in the west was indirect and in the hands of the Slavic chiefs, the Bulgars are first mentioned in the 4th century in the vicinity of the North Caucasian steppe. However, any connection between the Bulgars and postulated Asian counterparts rest on little more than speculative and contorted etymologies. The Bulgars are not thought to have numerous, becoming a ruling elite in the areas they controlled. Their archeological evidence is concentrated in northeast Bulgaria and in Macedonia, mixed Bulgar-Slavic settlements emerged according to archeological evidence. Omurtag was the last ruler with a Turkic name and during the reign of Boris the Slavonic language reached an official level, a substantional number of loan words of the Bulgar language remained in the Medieval Bulgarian Slavic language and fewer survived in the modern. During the Early Byzantine Era, the Roman provincials in Scythia Minor and Moesia Secunda were already engaged in economic, the major port towns in Pontic Bulgaria remained Byzantine Greek in their outlook. The establishment of a new state molded the various Slav, Bulgar, in different periods to the ethnogenesis of the local population contributed also different Indo-European and Turkic people, who settled or lived on the Balkans. The First Bulgarian Empire was founded in 681, after the adoption of Orthodox Christianity in 864 it became one of the cultural centres of Slavic Europe. Its leading cultural position was consolidated with the invention of the Cyrillic script in its capital Preslav at the eve of the 10th century

15.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above

16.
Politics of Transnistria
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Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament, formally, Transnistria has a multi-party system and an unicameral parliament, called the Supreme Council. The president is elected by popular vote, political parties from Moldova do not recognize the Transnistrian government and do not participate at elections organized by it. As shown by results, between 1989 and 2004 the population in Transnistria decreased by 18%. This is significantly higher than the decrease of population in the Republic of Moldova, data issued by Transnistrian authorities show that of the 555,500 inhabitants, a total of 394,861 are registered to vote, down 5. 6% from a year earlier. There is disagreement as to whether elections in Transnistria are free, western organizations, such as the OSCE, have declared that no democratic elections can take place in the region under the present circumstances and have refused to even monitor them. According to Chişinău-based Vremea, there is now a whole generation of people in Transnistria who see Chişinău only as something negative and they were released after few days in custody, no charges being made against them. In November 2006, the Moldovan press reported that the offices of the Rîbniţa district committee of the Communist Party in Transnistria were closed by the local Transnistrian authorities, the Communist Party of Moldova condemned the act and claims it was closed under false pretenses. Some parties and publications were banned, power to the People Party led by Nicolae Butchatsky was banned in February 2002. On November 14,2001, the Transnistrian customs service banned the distribution of the publication Glas Naroda, election results have been contested by some, as in 2001 in one region an undisclosed source reported that Igor Smirnov collected 103. 6% of the votes. Nevertheless, some organizations, such as CIS-EMO, have participated and have called them democratic, in Transnistria, the president is elected directly, while in Moldova, the president is elected by the parliament, the political structure of Moldova being a parliamentary republic. The number of Transnistrian holding Moldovan citizenship is disputed, however,2004 Transnistrian census data puts the official number of Transnistrians with Moldovan citizenship at 107,600 people. Transnistria does not allow the organisation of Moldovan elections in Transnistrian territory, polling stations were organised only in those areas of Transnistria under Moldovan government control. Political parties from Moldova have organisations in Transnistria but refuse to participate in elections organized by the de facto Republic and they participate only in the elections of the Republic of Moldova. In 2005 Moldovan parliamentary elections nine special polling stations were organised near the Dniester for guest voters coming from Transnistria who wished to vote in the Moldovan elections, around 8000 citizens voted there, who were included in supplementary voter rolls. Due to large turnout of Transnistrian voters queues were formed and some voters didnt manage to vote

17.
Unitary state
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The majority of states in the world have a unitary system of government. Of the 193 UN member states,165 of them are governed as unitary states, unitary states are contrasted with federal states. In a unitary state, sub-national units are created and abolished, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is an example of a unitary state. Many unitary states have no areas possessing a degree of autonomy, in such countries, sub-national regions cannot decide their own laws. Examples are the Republic of Ireland and the Kingdom of Norway, in federal states, the sub-national governments share powers with the central government as equal actors through a written constitution, to which the consent of both is required to make amendments. This means that the units have a right of existence. The United States of America is an example of a federal state, under the U. S. Constitution, powers are shared between the federal government and the states

18.
Semi-presidential system
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A semi-presidential system is a system of government in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of a state. There are two subtypes of semi-presidentialism, premier-presidentialism and president-parliamentarism. Under the premier-presidential system, the minister and cabinet are exclusively accountable to parliament. The president chooses the prime minister and cabinet, but only the parliament may remove them from office with a vote of no confidence, the president does not have the right to dismiss the prime minister or the cabinet. However, in cases, the president can circumvent this limitation by exercising the discretionary power of dissolving the assembly. This subtype is used in Burkina Faso, France, Georgia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mali, Mongolia, Niger, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Ukraine. Under the president-parliamentary system, the minister and cabinet are dually accountable to the president. The president chooses the prime minister and the cabinet but must have the support of the parliament majority for his choice. In order to remove a prime minister or the cabinet from power. This form of semi-presidentialism is much closer to pure presidentialism and it is used in Armenia, Georgia between 2004 and 2013, Mozambique, Namibia, Russia, Taiwan and Ukraine between 1996 and 2005, and again from 2010 to 2014. It was used in Germany during the Weimarer Republik, as the regime between 1919 and 1933 is called unofficially. The powers that are divided between president and prime minister can vary greatly between countries and it is up to the president to decide, how much autonomy he leaves to his prime minister to act on his own. Semi-presidential systems may experience periods in which the President and the Prime Minister are from differing political parties. This is called cohabitation, a term originated in France when the situation first arose in the 1980s. In most cases, cohabitation results from a system in which the two executives are not elected at the time or for the same term. For example, in 1981, France elected both a Socialist president and legislature, which yielded a Socialist premier, but whereas the presidents term of office was for seven years, the National Assembly only served for five. When, in the 1986 legislative election, the French people elected a right-of-centre Assembly, however, in 2000, amendments to the French Constitution reduced the length of the French Presidents term from seven to five years. This has significantly lowered the chances of occurring, as parliamentary

19.
Republic
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It is a government where the head of state is not a monarch. Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their ideology, composition, in the classical and medieval period of Europe, many states were fashioned on the Roman Republic, which referred to the governance of the city of Rome, between it having kings and emperors. The Italian medieval and Renaissance political tradition, today referred to as humanism, is sometimes considered to derive directly from Roman republicans such as Sallust. Republics were not equated with classical democracies such as Athens, but had a democratic aspect, Republics became more common in the Western world starting in the late 18th century, eventually displacing absolute monarchy as the most common form of government in Europe. In modern republics, the executive is legitimized both by a constitution and by popular suffrage, for instance, Article IV of the United States Constitution guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government. The term originates as the Latin translation of Greek word politeia, cicero, among other Latin writers, translated politeia as res publica and it was in turn translated by Renaissance scholars as republic. The term politeia can be translated as form of government, polity, or regime, and is therefore not always a word for a specific type of regime as the modern word republic is. And also amongst classical Latin, the term republic can be used in a way to refer to any regime. In medieval Northern Italy, a number of city states had commune or signoria based governments, in the late Middle Ages, writers, such as Giovanni Villani, began writing about the nature of these states and the differences from other types of regime. They used terms such as libertas populi, a free people, the terminology changed in the 15th century as the renewed interest in the writings of Ancient Rome caused writers to prefer using classical terminology. To describe non-monarchical states writers, most importantly Leonardo Bruni, adopted the Latin phrase res publica. While Bruni and Machiavelli used the term to describe the states of Northern Italy, which were not monarchies, the term can quite literally be translated as public matter. It was most often used by Roman writers to refer to the state and government, in subsequent centuries, the English word commonwealth came to be used as a translation of res publica, and its use in English was comparable to how the Romans used the term res publica. Notably, during The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell the word commonwealth was the most common term to call the new monarchless state, likewise, in Polish, the term was translated as rzeczpospolita, although the translation is now only used with respect to Poland. Presently, the term republic commonly means a system of government which derives its power from the rather than from another basis. After the classical period, during the Middle Ages, many cities developed again. The modern type of itself is different from any type of state found in the classical world. Nevertheless, there are a number of states of the era that are today still called republics

20.
President of Transnistria
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The President of Transnistria is the highest elected official of Transnistria, a small unrecognized country which declared independence from Moldova in 1990. The president of the republic is the head of state and is also commander in chief of its armed forces. As per the Constitution of Transnistria, he represents the country abroad. The current President is Vadim Krasnoselsky, since 16 December 2016 and he was elected in the 2016 election. Politics of Transnistria Prime Minister of Transnistria Official PMR presidential site Unofficial presidential website

21.
Supreme Council (Transnistria)
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The Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic is the parliament of Transnistria. The unicameral legislature consists of 43 seats, all of which are determined by single mandate constituencies and it is headed by a chairman. As Transnistria was not a region before the declaration of its independence. This meant that all government authorities had to be formed from scratch, Igor Smirnov was elected chairman of the Provisional Supreme Council in March 1990. After Smirnov was elected Chairman of the Republic on 29 November 1990 he was succeeded by Vladimir Gonchar, on 25 November 1990, the first legislative elections to the Supreme Council of PMR took place in Transnistria. The first Supreme Council was bicameral, it consisted of two chambers - the Council of the Republic and the Council of Nationalities, the Supreme Council was elected for a five-year term and consisted of 64 deputies. On 30 January 1991, the Supreme Council elected native-born Transnistrian of Moldovan origin Grigore Mărăcuţă as its chairman, after referendum in 1995 and the adoption of the second Constitution of Transnistria, the composition of the Supreme Council changed. The Council of the Republic was replaced by the Chamber of Legislators, the second Supreme Council was elected for a five-year term and consisted of 67 deputies. Elections to the second Supreme Council took place on 24 December 1995, in 2000 amendments were made in the Constitution of PMR leading to new change in the organization of the Supreme Council. It became unicameral and consisted of 43 deputies, until 2005, the chairman of the parliament was Grigore Mărăcuţă, but following the election victory of the opposition party Renewal the new chairman became Renewal party leader Yevgeny Shevchuk. In 2009, President Igor Smirnov set up a commission to draft a new constitution, on 22 July 2009, Shevchuk resigned as speaker and was succeeded by Russian-born ethnic Ukrainian Anatoly Kaminski, also from the Renewal party. Shevchuk cited the proposed constitution as a major factor as to why he resigned. He defeated both Smirnov and his former colleague Kaminski in the 2011 presidential elections, following his defeat in the elections Kaminski resigned both as speaker and as head of the Renewal party. He was succeeded by Mikhail Burla, an ethnic Ukrainian, most of the members of parliament are native-born Transnistrians. According to official PMR data,22 of the 43 members of the parliament were born in PMR, while four were born in Moldova, seven were born in Russia, six in Ukraine and four did not declare. Igor Smirnov Vladimir Gonchar Grigore Mărăcuţă Yevgeny Shevchuk Anatoly Kaminski Mikhail Burla Vadim Krasnoselski Official website Parliament summary

22.
Political status of Transnistria
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This declaration sought to establish a Soviet Socialist Republic separate from the Moldavian SSR, while still part of the Soviet Union. No United Nations member country recognizes the PMRs bid to sovereignty, Moldova lost de facto control of Transnistria in 1992, in the wake of the War of Transnistria. Since that time, the PMR has received recognition only from Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The two main parties in Transnistria, the Republican Party and Renewal oppose any rapprochement with Chişinău. Only three polities recognize Transnistrias sovereignty, which are themselves largely unrecognized states, Abkhazia, South Ossetia. All four states are members of the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations, although ethnic Moldavians have historically made up a large minority of the population, the area was never considered part of the traditional lands of Moldavian settlement. By this time, the Principality of Moldavia had been in existence for almost five hundred years with the Dniester marking its boundary for all this time. The national poet Mihai Eminescu, in his famous poem Doina, indeed, between 1929 and 1940, Tiraspol was the capital of the Moldavian ASSR, an autonomous republic within Ukrainian SSR, which existed from 1924 to 1940. According to PMR advocates, the territory to the East of the Dniester River never belonged either to Romania, nor to its predecessors and this territory was split off from the Ukrainian SSR in a political maneuver of the USSR to become a seed of the Moldavian SSR. In 1990, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian SSR was proclaimed in the region by a number of conservative local Soviet officials opposed to perestroika and this action was immediately declared void by the then president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. At the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moldova became independent, the Moldovan Declaration of Independence denounced the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and declared the 2 August 1940 Law of the USSR on the establishment of the Moldavian SSR null and void. A2010 study conducted by the University of Colorado Boulder showed that the majority of Transnistrias population supports the separation from Moldova. The Republic of Moldova considers itself the successor state to the Moldavian SSR. By the principle of integrity, Moldova claims that any form of secession from the state without the consent of the central Moldovan government is illegal. It considers the current Transnistria-based PMR government to be illegitimate and not the rightful representative of the regions population, the Moldovan side insists that Transnistria cannot exist as an independent political entity and must be reintegrated into Moldova. However, it should be noted that, due to Transnistrias limited recognition as a state, therefore, it is possible that many Transnistrians possess a Moldovan passport for practical reasons, rather than as an expression of wishing to reunify with Moldova. These localities are, commune Cocieri, commune Molovata Nouă, commune Corjova, commune Coşniţa, commune Pîrîta, the village of Corjova is in fact divided between PMR and Moldovan central government areas of control. Roghi is also controlled by the PMR authorities, at the same time, some areas which are situated on the right bank of the Dniester are under PMR control

23.
Transnistria War
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Fighting intensified on 1 March 1992 and, alternating with ad hoc ceasefires, lasted throughout the spring and early summer of 1992 until a ceasefire was declared on 21 July 1992, which has held. The conflict remained unresolved, but in 2011 talks were held under the auspices of the Organization for Security, however, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the territorial changes resulting from it have remained in place. It represents slightly more than one tenth of Moldovas territory, in the Moldavian SSR, as in many other parts of the Soviet Union, national movements became the leading political force. According to John Mackinlay and Peter Cross, who conducted a study based on casualty reports and they suggest that the conflict is more political in nature. On 31 August 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR enacted two laws, one of them made Moldovan the official language, in lieu of Russian, the de facto official language of the Soviet Union. It also mentioned a linguistic Moldo-Romanian identity, the second law stipulated the return to the Latin Romanian alphabet. Moldovan language is the used in the former Soviet Union for a virtually identical dialect of the Romanian language during 1940–1989. On 27 April 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR adopted the tricolour flag with the Moldavian coat of arms and changed the national anthem to Deșteaptă-te. The national anthem of Romania since 1989, later that year the words Soviet and Socialist were dropped and the name of the country was changed to Republic of Moldova. This possibility caused fears among the Russian-speaking population that it would be excluded from most aspects of public life, from September 1989, there were strong scenes of protests in the region against the central governments ethnic policies. The language laws presented a particularly volatile issue as a proportion of the non-Moldovan population of the Moldavian SSR did not speak Moldovan. The problem of the language in the MSSR had become a Gordian knot, being exaggerated and, perhaps. Some described the laws as discriminatory and criticized their rapid implementation. Others, on the contrary, complained the laws were not followed, on 2 September 1990, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed, Pridnestrovie being the name for Transnistria in Russian. On 22 December 1990 president Gorbachev signed a decree that declared void the decisions of the Second Congress of People Deputies of Transnistria from 2 September, for two months, Moldovan authorities refrained from taking action against this proclamation. Transnistria became one of the republics that appeared throughout the USSR, alongside Abkhazia, South Ossetia. These unrecognized states maintained close ties with each other, the first clash between the Moldovan government and separatists occurred on 3 November 1990 in Dubăsari. A police detachment was dispatched to clear a roadblock placed by the city residents on the bridge over the river Dniester that effectively cut the city off from the central government, in the resulting shootout, three residents of Dubăsari were killed, the first casualties of the conflict

24.
International recognition of Transnistria
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International recognition of Transnistria – a disputed region in Eastern Europe located between Moldova and Ukraine – is controversial. Although Transnistria declared independence in 1990, no United Nations member recognises its sovereignty, as of 2011, only Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and South Ossetia recognise its independence, all themselves states with limited recognition. Despite not officially recognizing Transnistrias independence, Russia has established a consulate in the disputed territory, in 1990, a Pridnestrovian Moldavian SSR was proclaimed in the region by a number of conservative local Soviet officials opposed to perestroika. This action was declared void by the then president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moldova, including Transnistria, the PMR side said Moldovas declaration of independence was ill-conceived and that it considers the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact to be null and void. During the 1992 War of Transnistria some villages changed hands between the PMR government and Moldova proper, PMR forces have often clashed with Moldovas representatives. Government documents from Transnistria state that the republic has established and maintained relations with countries seeking recognition. It sought to have relations with foreign countries and international organizations, especially those of Europe. The pro-European orientation was a consequence of an understanding of fundamental values of the world civilization. A lot of Pridnestrovian foreign interests lie in this area, the importance of a harmonic inclusion of Pridnestrovie into the international democratic community makes necessary an active cooperation. Transnistrias goal was to rest on the European experience in the future for its political, economic, scientific and technical. Transnistria is member state of the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations, the government of Moldova does not actively prevent or seek to prevent representatives of other states from interacting with the government of Transnistria. List of states with limited recognition Kosovo independence precedent List of diplomatic missions of Transnistria List of diplomatic missions in Transnistria Foreign relations of Transnistria

25.
Transnistria
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The region is considered by the UN to be part of Moldova. The PMR controls a narrow strip of territory to the east of the River Dniester, unrecognised by any United Nations member state, Transnistria is designated by the Republic of Moldova as the Transnistria autonomous territorial unit with special legal status, or Stînga Nistrului. As part of agreement, a three-party Joint Control Commission supervises the security arrangements in the demilitarised zone. Its authorities have adopted a constitution, flag, national anthem and it is the only country still using the hammer and sickle on its flag. After a 2005 agreement between Moldova and Ukraine, all Transnistrian companies that seek to export goods through the Ukrainian border must be registered with the Moldovan authorities and this agreement was implemented after the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine took force in 2005. Most Transnistrians also have Moldovan citizenship, but many Transnistrians also have Russian and Ukrainian citizenship, the largest ethnic group is Moldovans, who historically had a higher share of the population, up to 49. 4% in 1926. Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia are post-Soviet frozen conflict zones and these four partially recognised states maintain friendly relations with each other and form the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations. The region is known in English as Trans-Dniestr or Transdniestria. Etymologically, these names are adaptations of the Romanian colloquial name of the region, the documents of the government of Moldova refer to the region as Stînga Nistrului meaning Left Bank of the Dniester. The name of the according to the Transnistrian authorities is Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. The short form of name is Pridnestrovie. Pridnestrovie is a transliteration of the Russian Приднестровье meaning by the Dniester, indo-European tribes had for millennia inhabited the area where Transnistria now is when it was a borderland between Dacia and Scythia. The Tyragetae inhabited the area around the River Dniester as well as the Scythians, early Germanic and Turkic tribes were present in the area during their attacks and invasions of the Roman Empire. From 56 AD, the area around the city of Tyras was occupied by the Romans for nearly four centuries. Tyras enjoyed great development during Roman times, there is a series of its coins with heads of emperors from Domitian to Alexander Severus, but in the second half of the fourth century the area was continuously attacked by barbarians and the Roman legionaries left Tyras. In the early Middle Ages, Slavic tribes of Tivertsi and Ulichs populated larger areas, including Transnistria, followed by Turkic nomads such as the Petchenegs and Cumans. Possibly an early part of Kievan Rus, after the Mongol invasion of Europe in 1241, prince of Moldavia George Ducas built a court at Țicanova on the east bank of the Dniester, and one at Nimirov on the Southern Bug, last mentioned in Moldavian hands in 1765. The localities Dubăsari, Rașcov, Vasilcău, as well as four other currently in Ukraine are mentioned in 17th–18th centuries as fairs for the Dniester-Bug region

26.
Transnistrian ruble
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The ruble is the currency of Transnistria and is divided into 100 kopecks. Since Transnistria is a state with limited recognition and considered as part of Moldova. However, unofficially some Transnistrian organisations such as Agroprombank and Gazprombank used the code PRB, the Trans-Dniester Republican Bank sometimes uses the code RUP. Soviet banknotes were used in the Trans-Dniester Moldavian Republic after its formation in 1990, when the former Soviet republics began issuing their own currencies, Transnistria was flooded with Soviet rubles. These stamped notes replaced unstamped Soviet and Russian notes at par and it is thought that most uncirculated notes bearing these stickers were created after 1994 specifically for collectors. The first, provisional issues were replaced in August 1994 by a new ruble and this currency consisted solely of banknotes and suffered from high inflation, necessitating the issue of notes overstamped with higher denominations. Although issued in 1994, some notes were issued dated 1993, in 2000, a new ruble was introduced at a rate of 1 new ruble =1,000,000 old rubles. This new currency consists of coins and banknotes. Coins are of 1 to 50 kopecks and are made from aluminium or copper-zinc and are similar to Soviet-era coinage, the 1 kopeck coins were withdrawn from circulation in January 2009. On August 22,2014, the Transnistrian Republican Bank issued coins made of materials and come in denominations of 1-, 3-. Since 2000 the Transnistrian Republican Bank has issued a number of commercial commemorative coins made from silver. Their mintage numbers were low, ranging between 500 and 5,000. Topics included for example Ancient fortresses on the river Dniester, The Outstanding people Transdniestria, a complete listing can be found on the website of the Transnistrian Republican Bank. When it was founded, Transnistria did not have its own mint, thus a foreign mint had to be found to strike Transnistrian coins. The Mint of Poland in Warsaw was selected for the job, Coins dated 2000 were struck in Warsaw and transported via Ukraine to Transnistria in trucks belonging to the Transnistrian Republican Bank. The Moldovan government was not pleased with this situation, since they viewed it as a de facto recognition of Transnistria, in October 2001 Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin addressed the issue with his Polish counterpart. The conflict came to a height when in December 2004 Ukrainian customs confiscated a truck with US$117,000 worth of Transnistrian coins near Lviv, the coins were handed over to the Moldovan authorities, who in response again protested with the Polish government. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs en state property wrote another letter to the Polish mint in April 2005 and they warned that continued production of Transnistrian coins would endanger relations with Ukraine and Moldova and damage the image of Poland abroad

27.
ISO 4217
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The ISO4217 code list is used in banking and business globally. ISO4217 codes are used on tickets and international train tickets to remove any ambiguity about the price. The first two letters of the code are the two letters of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes and the third is usually the initial of the currency itself, so Japans currency code is JPY—JP for Japan and Y for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the dollar, franc, peso and pound being used in dozens of different countries. Also, if a currency is revalued, the currency codes last letter is changed to distinguish it from the old currency. Other changes can be seen, however, the Russian ruble, for example, changed from RUR to RUB and these currency units are denominated as one troy ounce of the specified metal as opposed to USD1 or EUR1. The code XTS is reserved for use in testing, the code XXX is used to denote a transaction involving no currency. There are also codes specifying certain monetary instruments used in international finance, the codes for most supranational currencies, such as the East Caribbean dollar, the CFP franc, the CFA franc BEAC and the CFA franc BCEAO. The predecessor to the euro, the European Currency Unit, had the code XEU, the use of an initial letter X for these purposes is facilitated by the ISO3166 rule that no official country code beginning with X will ever be assigned. Because of this rule ISO4217 can use X codes without risk of clashing with a country code. ISO3166 country codes beginning with X are used for private custom use, consequently, ISO4217 can use X codes for non-country-specific currencies without risk of clashing with future country codes. The inclusion of EU in the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list, the ISO4217 standard includes a crude mechanism for expressing the relationship between a major currency unit and its corresponding minor currency unit. This mechanism is called the exponent and assumes a base of 10. For example, USD is equal to 100 of its currency unit the cent. So the USD has exponent 2, the code JPY is given the exponent 0, because its minor unit, the sen, although nominally valued at 1/100 of a yen, is of such negligible value that it is no longer used. Usually, as with the USD, the currency unit has a value that is 1/100 of the major unit, but in some cases 1/1000 is used. Mauritania does not use a decimal division of units, setting 1 ouguiya equal to 5 khoums, some currencies do not have any minor currency unit at all and these are given an exponent of 0, as with currencies whose minor units are unused due to negligible value. There is also a code number assigned to each currency

28.
Eastern European Time
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Eastern European Time is one of the names of UTC+02,00 time zone,2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. The zone uses daylight saving time, so that it uses UTC+03,00 during the summer, a number of African countries use UTC+02,00 all year long, where it is called Central Africa Time, although Egypt and Libya also use the term Eastern European Time. The following countries, parts of countries, and territories use Eastern European Time all year round, Egypt, since 21 April 2015, used EEST from 1988–2010, Kaliningrad Oblast, since 26 October 2014, also used EET in years 1945 and 1991–2011. Libya, since 27 October 2013, switched from Central European Time, used year-round EET from 1980–1981, 1990–1996 and 1998–2012. Belarus, in years 1922–30 and 1990–2011 In Poland this time was used in years 1918–22, in time of World War II, Germany implemented MET in east occupied territories. Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol used EET as part of Ukraine in years 1991-94 and 1996-2014 Turkey, used EET in years 1910-1978, now uses year round DST timezone called Further-eastern European Time or Turkey Time. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus also uses FET, sometimes, due to its use on Microsoft Windows, FLE Standard Time or GTB Standard Time are used to refer to Eastern European Time. Since political, in addition to geographical, criteria are used in the drawing of time zones. The EET time zone, were it drawn by purely geographical terms, the easternmost part of the Republic of Macedonia, including the city of Strumica. The absolutely easternmost part of Serbia, in the Pirot District, the easternmost town in Norway, Vardø, lies at 30°51 E, which is located east of even of the central meridian of UTC+2, i. e. east of Istanbul and Alexandria. The Norwegian-Russian border is the place where CET borders Moscow time. There is a point at the Norway-Finland-Russia tripoint, near the town of Rayakoski. Belarus is located between 23°11′E and 32°47′E and is fully located with the physical UTC+2 area, but it uses UTC+3 year around. This also includes the city of Anapa, at the westernmost tip of the Krasnodar Krai near the entrance to the Sea of Azov, the Norway–Russia–Finland tri-zone point at Muotkavaara is surrounded by three different times in winter, two in summer. It had three time zones year-around before 2014, two of the four tripoints of Belarus and the tripoint of the Kaliningrad Region are surrounded by three different times in winter

29.
Coordinated Universal Time
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Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead

30.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year

31.
Eastern European Summer Time
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Eastern European Summer Time is one of the names of UTC+3 time zone,3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries. During the winter periods, Eastern European Time is used, since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October, previously the rules were not uniform across the European Union. Syria, since 1983 Ukraine, Moscow Summer Time in years 1981–89, regular EEST from 1992 In one year 1991 EEST was used also in Moscow, egypt has previously used EEST from 1957–2010 and 2014–2015. Turkey, has previously used EEST from 1970-1978 EEST, Moscow Summer Time from 1979–1983, and EEST from 1985-2016

32.
Romanian language
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Romanian is a Romance language spoken by around 24 million people as a native language, primarily in Romania and Moldova, and by another 4 million people as a second language. It has official status in Romania and the Republic of Moldova and it is one of the official languages of the European Union and the Latin Union. Romanian is a part of the Balkan-Romance group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin separated from the Western Romance during the 5th–8th centuries. To distinguish it within that group in comparative linguistics it is called Daco-Romanian as opposed to its closest relatives, Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, and Istro-Romanian. Eastern Romance languages, like the branches of Romance languages, descend from Vulgar Latin. These vestiges of military usage are unique to Romanian in its language family. s. o, sat village, șes plain, a supune, tindă veranda, țară homeland a. s. o. This linguistic evidence challenges the Roeslerian theory, the vestiges from sermo castrensis particularize the Romanian language in the neolatin area, together with its isolated history. e. With Rom. māgurā and Alb. magulë etc, the Roman Empire withdrew from Dacia in 271–272 AD, leaving it to the Goths. The history of Eastern Romance between the 3rd century and the development of Proto-Romanian by the 10th century, when the area came under the influence of the Byzantine Empire, is unknown. It is a matter of debate whether Proto-Romanian developed among Romanized people who were left behind in Dacia by the Roman withdrawal or among Latin-speakers in the Balkans south of the Danube, during the Middle Ages, Romanian became influenced by the Slavic languages and to some degree by Greek. Romanian remains unattested throughout the Middle Ages, and only enters the record in the early 16th century. The use of the denomination Romanian for our language and use of the demonym Romanians for speakers of this language predates the foundation of the modern Romanian state. In 1534, Tranquillo Andronico notes, Valachi nunc se Romanos vocant, francesco della Valle writes in 1532 that Romanians are calling themselves Romans in their own language, and he subsequently quotes the expression, Știi Românește. After travelling through Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania Ferrante Capecci accounts in 1575 that the population of these regions call themselves românești. Pierre Lescalopier writes in 1574 that those who live in Moldavia, Wallachia, the Transylvanian Saxon Johann Lebel writes in 1542 that Vlachi se numeau între ei Romuini and the Polish chronicler Stanislaw Orzechowski notes in 1554 that în limba lor walachii se numesc romini. In Palia de la Orăștie stands written «, că văzum cum toate limbile au și înfluresc întru cuvintele slăvite a lui Dumnezeu numai noi românii pre limbă nu avem. și le-au dăruit voo fraților români. », nevertheless, the oldest extant document written in Romanian remains Neacșus letter and was written using Cyrillic letters. There are no records of any documents written in Romanian from before 1521

33.
Abkhazia
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Abkhazia is a partially recognised state on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus Mountains, south of Russia and northwest of Georgia proper. It covers 8,660 square kilometres and has a population of around 240,000, the separatist Abkhazian polity, formally the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny, is recognised only by Russia and a small number of other countries. The status of Abkhazia is an issue of the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict. The region enjoyed autonomy within Soviet Georgia at the time when the Soviet Union began to disintegrate in the late 1980s, despite the 1994 ceasefire agreement and years of negotiations, the dispute remained unresolved. The long-term presence of a United Nations Observer Mission and a Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States peacekeeping force failed to prevent the flare-up of violence on several occasions. On 28 August 2008, the Parliament of Georgia declared Abkhazia a Russian-occupied territory, the Abkhazians call their homeland Аҧсны, popularly etymologised as a land/country of the soul, yet literally meaning a country of mortals. It possibly first appeared in the century in an Armenian text as Psin. The state is designated as the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny. The Russian Абхазия is adapted from the Georgian აფხაზეთი, in Mingrelian, Abkhazia is known as აბჟუა or სააფხაზო. Between the 9th and 6th centuries BC, the territory of modern Abkhazia was part of the ancient Georgian kingdom of Colchis and this kingdom was subsequently absorbed in 63 BC into the Kingdom of Egrisi, known to Byzantine Roman sources as Lazica. Classical authors described various peoples living in the region and the multitude of languages they spoke. Arrian, Pliny and Strabo have given accounts of the Abasgoi and Moschoi peoples somewhere in modern Abkhazia on the shore of the Black Sea. Around the mid 6th century AD, the Byzantines and the neighbouring Sassanid Persia fought for supremacy over Abkhazia for 20 years, Abkhazia, or Abasgia in classic sources, formerly part of Colchis and later of Egrisi until the late 690s, was a princedom under Byzantine authority. The country was mostly Christian, with the seat in Pityus. An Arab incursion into Abkhazia led by Marwan II, was repelled by Leon I jointly with his Egrisian and Kartlian allies in 736, after acquiring Egrisi via a dynastic union in the 780s the Kingdom of Abkhazia was established and became a dominant power in western Caucasus. During this period the Georgian language replaced Greek as the language of literacy, the western Georgian kingdom flourished between 850 and 950 when it annexed significant parts of central Georgia. In the 16th century, after the break-up of the Georgian Kingdom into small kingdoms and principalities, since the 1570s, when the Ottoman navy occupied the fort of Tskhumi, Abkhazia came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire and Islam. Under Ottoman rule, the majority of Abkhaz elite converted to Islam, the principality retained a degree of autonomy

34.
Republic of Artsakh
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Nagorno-Karabakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh, is an unrecognised republic in the South Caucasus. The region is considered by the UN to be part of Azerbaijan, the dispute was largely shelved after the Soviet Union established control over the area and created the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within the Azerbaijan SSR in 1923. During the fall of the Soviet Union, the region re-emerged as a source of dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in 1991, a referendum held in the NKAO and the neighbouring Shahumian region resulted in a declaration of independence. Large-scale ethnic conflict led to the 1991–1994 Nagorno-Karabakh War, which ended with a ceasefire that left the current borders, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is a semi-presidential democracy with a unicameral legislature. Its reliance on Armenia means that in many ways it functions de facto as part of Armenia, the country is very mountainous, averaging 1,097 metres above sea level. The population is predominantly Christian, most being affiliated with the Armenian Apostolic Church, several historical monasteries are popular with tourists, mostly from the Armenian diaspora, as most travel can take place only between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is a democracy, whereby the executive power resides with both the President and the Prime Minister. The president is elected for a maximum of two-consecutive five-year terms. The current President is Bako Sahakyan, in the most recent presidential elections, held on 19 July 2012, Sahakyan was reelected to a second term. The President appoints a potential Prime Minister who is approved by a majority vote in the National Assembly. The National Assembly is a unicameral legislature and it has 33 members who are elected for 5-year terms. Three organisations have members in the parliament, the Democratic Party of Artsakh has 18 members, Free Motherland has 8 members, Nagorno-Karabakh is heavily dependent on Armenia, and in many ways de facto functions and is administered as part of Armenia. On 3 November 2006, the then-President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Arkadi Ghukasyan and it was held on 10 December of the same year and voters overwhelmingly approved the new constitution. According to official results, with a turnout of 87. 2%. The First article of the document describes the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as a sovereign, more than 100 non-governmental international observers and journalists who monitored the poll evaluated it positively, stating that it was held to a high international standard. Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis asserted that the poll will not be recognized, and is therefore of no consequence. The outcome was also criticised by Turkey, which traditionally supports Azerbaijan because of common ethnic Turkic roots, another referendum was held on 20 February 2017, with a 87. 6% vote in favour on a 76% turnout for instituting a new constitution. The new name implies a claim to the areas controlled beyond the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, the referendum is seen as a response to the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh clashes

35.
South Ossetia
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It has a population of 53,000 people which live in an area of 3,900 km2, south of the Russian Caucasus, with 30,000 living in its capital city of Tskhinvali. South Ossetia declared independence from the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, the Georgian government responded by abolishing South Ossetias autonomy and trying to re-establish its control over the region by force. The crisis escalation led to the 1991–92 South Ossetia War, Georgian fighting against those controlling South Ossetia occurred on two other occasions, in 2004 and 2008. The latter conflict led to the Russo–Georgian War, during which Ossetian and Russian forces gained full de facto control of the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. In the wake of the 2008 war, Russia, followed by Nicaragua, Venezuela, Georgia and a significant part of the international community consider South Ossetia to be occupied by the Russian military. South Ossetia relies heavily on military, political and financial aid from Russia, Russia does not allow European Union Monitoring Mission monitors to enter South Ossetia. South Ossetia, Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Abkhazia are sometimes referred to as post-Soviet frozen conflict zones, the Ossetians are believed to originate from the Alans, a Sarmatian Iranian tribe. In the 17th century, Ossetians started migration from the North Caucasus to Georgia, Ossetian peasants, who were migrating to the mountainous areas of the South Caucasus, often settled in the lands of Georgian feudal lords. The Georgian King of the Kingdom of Kartli permitted Ossetians to immigrate, in the 1770s there were more Ossetians living in Kartli than ever before. This period has been documented in the diaries of Johann Anton Güldenstädt who visited Georgia in 1772. The Baltic German explorer called modern North Ossetia simply Ossetia, while he wrote that Kartli was populated by Georgians, Güldenstädt also wrote that the northernmost border of Kartli is the Major Caucasus Ridge. The Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, part of which was the territory of modern South Ossetia, was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1801. Following the Russian revolution, the area of modern South Ossetia became part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, although the Ossetians were initially discontented with the economic policies of the central government, the tension soon transformed into ethnic conflict. The first Ossetian rebellion began in February 1918, when three Georgian princes were killed and their land was seized by the Ossetians, the central government of Tiflis retaliated by sending the National Guard to the area. However, the Georgian unit retreated after they had engaged the Ossetians, Ossetian rebels then proceeded to occupy the town of Tskhinvali and began attacking ethnic Georgian civilian population. During uprisings in 1919 and 1920, the Ossetians were covertly supported by Soviet Russia, but even so, were defeated. Between 3,000 and 7,000 Ossetians were killed during the crushing of the 1920 uprising, according to Ossetian sources ensuing hunger, the drawing of administrative boundaries of the South Ossetian AO was quite a complicated process. Many Georgian villages were included within the South Ossetian AO despite numerous protests by the Georgian population, while the city of Tskhinvali did not have a majority Ossetian population, it was made the capital of the South Ossetian AO

36.
Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations
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Nagorno-Karabakh, which had been part of the 2001 agreement, left in 2004 but became a member in 2007. All four member states have limited recognition, Abkhazia and South Ossetia are claimed by Georgia, Transnistria by Moldova. It calls for barring all types of pressure, such as military deployments, diplomatic isolation, economic blockades, or information wars and it also calls for external guarantees to eventual political settlements of these conflicts. On 27 September 2009 the members of the Community for Democracy, the agreement came into effect one month after its ratification by all three parliaments. It lasted for five years, after which it was extended for another five-year term. This agreement excludes Nagorno-Karabakh, who reserved the right to join this agreement at a later date, as of 2017, the four member states have a combined population of 947,480 people. Abkhazia and South Ossetia have secured recognition from United Nations member states such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, meanwhile, political leaders of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria have all promised to integrate their economies and perhaps seek membership in the Russian-led Eurasian Union

37.
Moldovan leu
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The leu is the currency of Moldova. Like the Romanian leu, the Moldovan leu is subdivided into 100 bani, the name of the currency originates in Romania and means lion. Between 1918 and 1940 and again between 1941 and 1944, when Moldova was part of Romania, the Romanian leu was used in what was then the part of the broader Romanian region of Moldavia. The Moldovan leu was established on 29 November 1993, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and it replaced the temporary cupon currency at a rate of 1 leu =1000 cupon. In Transnistria, an unrecognized state claimed in whole by Moldova, the currency is not honoured by Moldova or any other state. In November 1993 coins of 1,5,10,25 and 50 bani in aluminium as well as nickel-plated-steel 1 and 5 leu coins were put in circulation, the aluminium 50 bani, nickel-plated-steel 1 and 5 leu coins were later withdrawn from circulation. Starting January 1998 the aluminium 50 bani was replaced by one constructed of brass-clad steel, no new 1- and 5 leu coins have been issued. 1-Ban coins were last minted in 2006 and they remain legal tender, but are rarely seen in circulation, effectively leading to Swedish rounding. Since 1996 several commemorative coins for collectors have been issued, a complete listing can be found here. There have been two series of Moldovan leu banknotes, the first series was short-lived and only included 1,5, and 10 lei. The front of all of these notes—and all subsequent notes—feature a portrait of Ștefan cel Mare, the first two lines of the Miorița ballad appear on the back, printed vertically between the denomination numeral and the vignette of the fortress. The Miorița is an old Romanian pastoral ballad considered one of the most important pieces of Romanian folklore. The lines “Pe-un picior de plai, Pe-o gură de rai” translate as “Near a low foothill, the first two lines of the Miorița ballad are written in the white circle on the front side of each banknote. On the back side of all the banknotes there are depicted Trajans Column, economy of Moldova Coins of Moldova at CISCoins. net Catalog of Banknotes of Moldova

38.
.ru
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. ru is the Latin alphabet Internet country code top-level domain for the Russian Federation introduced on April 7,1994. The Russian alphabet internationalized country code is. рф, the control of. ru is assigned to the Coordination Center for TLD RU, the current official registry. The company RELCOM also proposes third-level registrations beneath various second-level domains such as. msk. ru, the creation of. ru in April,1994 was preceded by a historical agreement in 1993 known as “The order of RU top-level domain administration”. According to the agreement, administrative and technical support responsibilities for the national domain RU were to be handed over to the Russian Institute for Public Networks, in 2002 the administrative functions was handed over to the Coordination Center for TLD RU. The national domain in Russia is developing rapidly according to self-regulatory principles, in 1998, RIPN and RU top-level domain Coordination group established a domain registering association. Subsequently, in 2000, a new system of domain registration in RU top-level domain was introduced. It was a system of second-level domain name registration in RU top-level domain through accredited Registrars. The accredited registrars provide domain registration and support services based on the first come. RIPN became one of four co-founders of the Coordination Center for TLD RU, all organizational and administrative functions were handed over to the Coordination Center for TLD RU. To preserve the continuity, one of the Coordination centers committees was established on the basis of RU top-level domain Coordination group. Whereas, the RIPN secures national domain RU technical base functioning, the new distributed registration system was tested in 2001 and implemented in 2005

South Ossetia or Tskhinvali Region (also Republic of South Ossetia or the State of Alania), is a partially …

Historical Russian map of the Caucasus region at the beginning of the 19th century

Fragment of the historical map by J. H. Colton. The map depicts the Caucasus region in 1856. Modern South Ossetia is located in Georgia and Imeria. Modern North Ossetia approximately corresponds to "Ossia".